Welt-guide for welt-sewing machines.



` I j N. 894385,.

W. THOMPSON.

AWELT GUIDE PoR WELT SEWING MACHINES. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 1., 1904. Enum nu. 1 5, 190s.

EMBNTED AUGI 4, 190s.

WILLIAM THOMPSON, or iiRocn'roN, MAssAcriUsETTs.

WELT-GUIDE Fon WEL'rsEWrNG MACHINES. f

Specification ot Lettersilfatent.

Patented Aug. 1i, 190s.

Application filed September 1, 190s, Serial No. 222,915. Renewed January 15, 1908. -Serial No. 410,994.v

Brockton, in the countyof Plymouth and State of. .\Ia:\sachuset ts, have invented an Improvement in Telt-Guides for -Welt-Sewing Machines, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

i\ly invention is an improvement in welt guides for sewing machines used in making Goodyear welt shoes, its object being to ai in laying'or conforming the welt to the curva-- .i tures of the shoe, thereby bringing less strain upon the stitches during the subsequent operations and producing a better shoe.

In making a Goodyear weltshoe, the Welt is .sewed to the edge of the upper and inner sole by a line of stitches assing throu h the extremeedge of therwe t and the adJacent edges of the upper and the stitch receiving rib of the innersole, said welt being usually provided for this urpose with a longitudinal groove adjacent t e inner edge of the welt on the bottom side thereof, and the sewing inachine guide simpl receives the welt and turns up the edge eyond said groove to receive the needle of the machine. When the welt is. being sewed around curved laces, particularlv around the toe of the sioe, it immediately drops or is pulled into a vertical position against the side of the upper, or, in other words, it tends to assume a position perpendicular to the sole, and hence, when subsequently the sole is stitched thereto, it

becomes necessary first to forcibly stretch,

cut, and manipulate the welt so as to bring it iiat against the sole. This brings a constant strain upon the sewinvr and tends to distort the parts. According my present invention resides in providing means for compel ling the welt to maintain ap )roximately its iinal horizontal position whi e being sewed; and to this end, in the preferred embodiment of my invention herein shown, I provide a ledffe or directing late at the rear under side of tie weltguide or maintaining a considerable length of the welt in proper horizontal osition while the feeding portion thereof is eing sewed, the idea being to hold a suilicient portion of the welt in proper horizontal position to control, in connection with the sewinv, the laying of the welt. The result is that tie welt tends automatically to accom- Ino'date itself to the necessities of the curve, l

whatever the latter may be, so that when thereafter the sole is applied, 'there is less rei sistance and greater pliability in the Welt.

)ly-invention will be further explained in connection with the following drawings in which I have illustrated the saine as a plied to one form of a welt guide, the forni t iereof herein shown being that of the Goodyear welt and turn shoe machine, as it is coinmonly known in the market, although applicable to any other kind of machine.

In. the drawings; Figure 1 is 'a top plan view of my improved welt guide, illustrati in dotted lilies the manner of use tliereo Fig. 2 is a longitudinal'sectional view taken on the dotted line 2, Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a top plan view of one form oi? the directing plate or welt supportiner extension, Fi 4 is a t1 .insverse sectiona view taken on t e dotted line 4, Fig. 1, Fir'. 5 is a transverse sectional view taken on the dotted line 5-5 Fig. 3,

Fig. 6 is av bottom plan view.

Referring more )articularly to Fig. 1 where I have-indicated tlie toe of a shoe a to which a welt has been applied about half way around as indicated at w, it will be seen that I the welt is ldelivered at an angle (in practice heilig guided over a hook, not shown) t0l a guide c comprising a top plate c1, having a lateral oflset or stem c2, terminatinor in an arm c3, adapted to be bolted to the Iiead of the sewing machine. Secured on the under side of the plate c is a plate cl held by a screw c5 and turned up at its end c to engage the overhangino' outer end c7 of the plate cl thereby forininglbetween said plates a guideway c8 for the passage of the we t in the direction of the arrow Figs. 1 and 6, the welt being crowded out-ward by an adjustable iinger ci so that its edge w1 beyond the groove 'ui2 is turned up to be sewed against the projecting edge of the upper, indicated in dotted line at al.

. he foregoing parts are old and in operation result in permitting the welt to turn downwardly immediately upon being sewed. By my invention, however, I maintain the welt in an approximately horizontal position,

the welt, and constituting a. directing late or 110 ledge over which the outer part of t e welt must travel, as clearly shown in Fig. 1. This ustably by a set screw c12 to,-

plate extension is upturned at its outer edge cl3, where 1t is rounded off slwhtly to fac1livtate its use at such places as tie shank, said upt-urned corner c serving to counteract the downward pulling tendency of the welt at the l rear thereo as indicated at w3. The result of this extension is that the welt is compelled to maintain its horizontal position for a suliicient distance while heilig sewed so that the leather tends to assume the position required to cause this horizontal laying of the welt to become its normal position, instead of its abnormal position as before. For exa-m ile,

when rounding the toe, the Welt is cause to full or pucker as much 4as the nature of the leather will permit at its inner edge and is caused to stretch at its outer edge. In other words this directing plate or supporting extension constitutes an automatic adjuster for compelling the welt to be sewed in such a manner that its horizontal position becomes its normal position, as far as it is possible for it to do so, 1n view of the nature of the welt itself. a v Another feature of my invention resides i the shape of the slot or o ening c5 viewed transversely of the directlon of feed. As

' heretofore constructed this slot has had more or less of a continuous curve as indicated in dotted lines at c4. that I can obtain better results in forming and stretching and shrinking the welt as above explained by having the body portion of the welt held out fiat or bent upwardinstead of on a more or less continuous curve, as shown by said dotted lines c, and accordingly,l I shape the slot to resent a Well defined angle or corner c, eaving the lower part ofthe slot c16 approximately flat and the upper part c17 4at an oblique angle thereto, sullicient to receive the stitch receiving edge 'w1 beyond the groove 102, which also taci itates the entrance of the needle' n twhichv travels along the dotted line 2, Fig. 1). .This object is also greatly facilitated b v rendering the edge w of the welt especially ilexible `and normally upturned.

The adjustment c2 of the platee is to accommodate different widths and kinds of welts and also to ada t the guide to all classes of Work, While t e adjustment at c is for different thicknesses of Welt.

In use, the Welt is fed and sewed by the same mechanism and in the same manner as heretofore; but instead of tending to turn down, when rounding the toe or en v other curved surface, immediately upon being sewed, its outer edge continues to be supported ilatwise until it reaches the extreme outer corner of-the supporting plate or ex- I have found howeven,

ltension c1" by which time it has received the stitches and has passed around a considerable portionv of the curve to which it. is being applied- The result is that itis compelled to get its shape while being firmly 'and positively 'retained in ilat horizontal position and hence all the `viel-ding of which t ie leather is. capable is compelled to take place with relation tothis dat or horizontal position of the welt. In the case of sewing about a toe,'some of this vielding takes place in the form of stretching of the outer edge of the welt,

while some of the yielding is compelled to take place in the form of shrinking or compression of the leather along its inner edge -where it is being scwed, thereby affording a much het ter general result. Also my inven- `tion conduces to neatness and efiiciency/J of sening and general workmanship. A /further advantage, which results from having the lower portion ofthe opening c flat and raised instead of curved in cross section, as shown in Fig. 2, is that the needle cannot possibly strike into the body of the welt but will invariably sew directly in the groove w.

It will be understood that I am not limited to the precise construction in all cases as the extension may be varied in size/ and shape although I prefer the form of extension here in sho-ern: but in some cases it-is advisable to form the extension integrally with the bottoni plate of the guide, and alsoit is some times desirable to vary its shape and extent somevvnat. Accordingly I do not intend to limit in vself to all the constructional details herein shown except as otherwise stated in the claims- Having full)v described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure b v Letters Patent of the United States is In combination, a needle7 a velt-guide,- containing at one side of the path of said needle a guideway for the welt, and at the opposite side of the path of said needle means for supporting and maintaining the body of the welt at approximately right angles to the edge being sewed, saidv guide-way being shaped to bend up the stitch-receiving edge at substantially a right angle to the welt-l body, and said needle being arranged to move back and forth above the welt-guide through said upturned edge approximately parallel to said supporting means. i

In testimony whereof, I have signed my naine to this specification, in the presence .of two subscribing witnesses.

IVILLIAM THOMPSOX:

-Witnesses:

Geo. H. MAXWELL, M. A. JONES. 

